Tag Archives: stockwhips

This idea is by no means original, but this is a prototype of a design I’ve wanted to try for a while. These aren’t currently available to be ordered, but maybe one day in the future I’ll add this style to my online store. The handle is 16.5″ and turned on the lathe from laminated Padauk and Oak blank with an Aussie style keeper attached to the handle instead of the traditional cow whip cup. The thong is a standard nylon stockwhip style.

Since then, I’ve added a special contribution perk for whip enthusiasts: If you claim the win a whip perk for a contribution of $10 or above, you will be entered in a drawing at the end of our campaign for a custom Kelley Performance Whip of your choice.

At the time of this writing, 4 out of 50 entries have been claimed so the odds are still really good. I have capped the number of entries at 50, but you can claim the perk more than once to increase your odds of winning! One donor entered twice already.

Thanks for whatever you do, even if it’s just sharing this post with someone who may be interested.

Judging from the number of views and visits to this blog, it was probably the first “semi-viral” thing I’ve ever posted here. I received a number of emails and Facebook messages asking about the identity of the whipmaker I wrote about in the article. Whip crackers wanted to make sure they did not (or do not) buy from the person and whipmakers were assuring me that they weren’t the ones doing anything unethical. Everyone was seemingly as upset as I was when I wrote it.

It would have been easier for me to have kept quiet, but I’ve often found that doing thetheeasy thing is seldom the same as doing the right thing. One major concern I had about writing that article was the possibility that it could hurt all of us who make synthetic whips. Another concern was that some might see the article as some tacit advertising campaign; that myself and Noreast Whips are the “safe guys” to buy from and all other should be viewed as suspect. I want to assure you that neither of those things was my goal.

The goal was to let folks know that there was an allegation of dishonesty in the ranks and maybe, hopefully, the offender would read it and decide to do the right thing from now on. By now, I’m certain the offender has seen the article and knows that someone out there is on to him. Judging by the reaction I’ve seen, the offender can rest assured that if his identity is revealed, it would almost certainly be a career-ender.

Thinking optimistically, perhaps it was just an isolated incident; a momentary lapse in judgement on the part of an individual trying something new.

We can only hope.

At this point, I want to call for calm within our whip making and whipcracking community. I believe that most of my peers are honest and committed to making the best products they can. As I look around at the craftsmen I know personally, I can’t imagine any of them being willing to sacrifice their name and integrity for a quick buck.

What I hope for most of all is that the plaiter in question –and any others who might be tempted to do the same– will realize that such dishonesty is not acceptable in this small community of craftsmen/women.

We don’t have government bureaucracies regulating whipmakers and telling us how we should do things or handling quality control. I’m a big believer in free markets, so I love that I get to make my living doing business in one of the freest, most unregulated markets on the planet. Being such a small niche market, I think chances are slim we’ll ever see much bureaucratic oversight, but I still think we have to police ourselves so someone else doesn’t have to do it for us. (I’d rather not see Obama create a Federal Bureau of Whipmaking Integrity.)

To the whip buyers reading this:

Here where I live, the Health Department inspects restaurants and gives them a grades either “A, B, C, or U” based on their findings. At times, we have driven by and saw a “B” or “C” placard on the window of restaurants where we have eaten in the past, occasionally even on ones we really like.

My wife’s reaction is to say “Oh, no! Gross! We better not go there.”

My reaction is different: I happen to be a Nationally Registered Food Safety Manager, so I know that once the inspector has come through, most of the problems are corrected on-sight. So in reality, it’s probably better to eat at an establishment the day after it gets a “B” or “C” and made corrections, rather than the day before it’s inspected and still has an “A” on the sign from the last inspection.

My point is this:

If I was in the market for a nylon whip, I would personally feel better about the integrity of the synthetic whip market today than 2 days ago. A few days ago, those who were may have been dishonest probably thought they were fooling everyone. Today, they’re not so sure. In fact, I’m willing to bet someone out there may be scared of their mind and is cleaning up their act!

As with all online shopping, you need to keep your guard up. There’s lots of great whipmakers on the web, as well as a few hucksters. I don’t want to see one bad apple ruin it for all of us.

Kelley Performance Whips Are Here!

A recent twist on the time tested Florida cow whip design are the so-called “pipe whips.” To my knowledge, these whips were first introduced by a whipmaker named Chris Hall and later popularized by Lauren Wickline of Midwestwhips. Since then, the design has been copied by many others. Now this design is finally available from one of the most trusted name in synthetic whips –Rhett Kelley Whips!

This is a photo performer Todd Various sent me of him holding a pair of my FCE stockwhips at a festival in Germany. The interesting thing about it is that these whips aren’t his. They actually belong to a performer in Brazil who happened to be at the same event and Todd was trying them out. It demonstrates to me that you just never know where your whips will be seen.